


The Battle Less Extreme

by ViolaWay



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Sherlock's Past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-10 23:42:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/791531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViolaWay/pseuds/ViolaWay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which John tries to get Sherlock to open up about his past, with disastrous results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Battle Less Extreme

So perhaps John was not-so-subtley trying to make Sherlock open up about his mysterious childhood. It wasn’t a crime! (Well, maybe asking Mycroft to illegally divulge Sherlock’s old school reports, photos and videos was a bit stalker…ish.) But there were days when John truly resented how little he knew about his—for lack of a better term—boyfriend, and this was definitely one of those times.

It really wasn’t a tactful subject choice.

“I did biology, chemistry and history for my A Levels. I hated physics, but I needed the extra credit, so…” he began, knowing that Sherlock could see straight through his attempts to salvage some inconsequential information about Sherlock’s life before…well… _him._ He sipped the tea he had made for his breakfast carefully, awaiting Sherlock’s response. Sherlock, as usual, wasn’t eating anything at all, preferring to sit in the same spot on the sofa all day (unless Lestrade called), focusing on trying to get a pencil to stand upright, unsupported. John didn’t really see the point of this activity, but he chose not to comment on it. It probably held some significance to a case.

“Why did you pick history?” Sherlock asked, sighing as the pencil toppled over once more.

“I always loved history,” John shrugged. “I remember learning about the battle of Hastings, and it just really interested me.” 

“The battle of Hastings?” Sherlock murmured quizzically.

“Oh my God, you can’t be serious.” 

“History is useless,” Sherlock said haughtily. 

“It’s not!” John protested. “God, you’re so bloody _ignorant_ sometimes! We can learn so much from those who came before us: from their successes and failures.” 

Sherlock rolled his eyes and returned to studying his pencil, leaving John feeling unreasonably angry. Really, he knew how Sherlock was. He could have anticipated this conversation far prior to its occurance. That didn’t mean, though, that John didn’t occasionally get frustrated with Sherlock constantly undermining everything he said. 

“What about the wars?” John demanded. 

“I know about Afghanistan!” Sherlock replied petulantly. 

“Why are we at war there?” John asked. 

“Human feelings.” Sherlock waved his arms vaguely, dismissing the sentiment entirely.

“What about World War II? The Holocaust?”

“Irrelevant.”

“Oh, so you’re above all that, are you? How can you go through life not knowing about stuff like this?”

“Perfectly well, thank you very much.”

“So I’m an idiot for learning about it all, then?” John said quietly, dangerously.

“Well, yes.”

“Thanks. Really…thanks.” John replied sarcastically, storming out of the door and leaving the flat.

***

_John, where are you?_

_-SH_

_John, the Holocaust is very interesting. How convenient that there was a documentary about it on the TV today. Based on the nature of programme, it did seem to presume that some things were common knowledge._

_-SH_

_John, Hitler had numerous mental disorders, and I researched all of them. I’ll tell you when you come home._

_-SH_

_John, when are you coming home?_

_-SH_

_John, I’m bored. The First World War isn’t half as interesting._

_-SH_

_John, it’s hard to deduce things about history._

_-SH_

_Please come home, John._

_-SH_

***

When John opened the door, he swore he heard something akin to a squeal from upstairs, but chose to ignore it. He’d been harsh on Sherlock; the man couldn’t help the way he thought, and John kept forgetting that.

“John!” Sherlock said, when the door swung open. “You were only at the park! Thank goodness!”

“How did you…never mind.” 

“John. I never did my A Levels. I got expelled from seven schools as a child, for the exact same reason you’re mad at me now. Or you were mad at me. It doesn’t seem like you’re still mad at me? I kept telling the teachers that they were stupid, and I did badly in all the tests.”

“How did _you_ do badly?” John interrupted before he could stop himself. 

“John, I know nothing about the Solar System. Almost everything got deleted from my hard-drive! My favourite subjects were food technology, because I started experiments in the kitchens, and maths, because I was good at maths. Too good. The teacher insisted I was cheating, so I told her that her husband was cheating on her in front of the whole class. My best subjects were chemistry and maths, and some parts of geography.” 

John smiled at Sherlock’s outburst, knowing that it was Sherlock’s way of apologizing. 

“I love you,” John said, crossing the room and pressing a kiss to Sherlock’s cheek. Sherlock hummed and grabbed John’s hand before he could back away, pulling him in for a ‘real’ kiss. 

“Love you, too,” Sherlock mumbled. “No one else comes back.”


End file.
